Talk presented at TEPE 2018 - Teacher Education Policy in Europe | University of Minho, Braga (Portugal) - 17 - 19 May 2018 Authorship: - Cristina Sá (CIDTFF) - cristina@ua.pt - Luciana Mesquita - lucianamesqu@gmail.com

1. Beliefs of future teachers
on global education and
its implementation
Cristina Manuela Sá (cristina@ua.pt)
University of Aveiro, CIDTFF (Portugal)
Luciana Mesquita (lucianamesqu@gmail.com)
Instituto de Ensino Superior Franciscano (Brazil)

2. Outline of presentation
1. Context of the study
2. Methodology
3. Results
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Attitudes/values
4. Conclusions

3. Context of the study
• Adaptation to a globalized society is a major issue
in 21st century education highlighted in EU
education policies (European Commission, 2018).
• In Portugal, worth mentioning is the report
Student Profile – Competences for the 21st
century (Gomes et al., 2017) which focuses on the
development of competences intended to
educate socially responsible citizens for
local/national/global contexts (Sá, 2018).

4. Context of the study
• To address these recommendations teacher
education programs should help future teachers
understand Global Education and its implications
to their role as educators and to their classroom
practice (Goodwin, 2010; Holden & Hicks, 2007;
Horsley & Bauer, 2010).

5. Aims
• These concerns led to an exploratory study that
aimed to identify the beliefs of future early
childhood educators and primary school teachers
on Global Education and its implementation
within the teaching of Portuguese as a mother
tongue.

6. Methodology
• 21 students:
- Aged between 21 and 25 years;
- All female;
- All born in Portugal and living in the country;
- All considering Portuguese as their mother
tongue for reasons mainly related to factors
concerning identity and affectivity (country of birth,
language of family and friends);
- Not very used to listening to and speaking
foreign languages (nevertheless, they mentioned
Spanish, English and French).

7. Methodology
• Data were:
- Collected through a questionnaire applied at the
beginning of the semester (initial beliefs) and an
individual written essay presented at the end of
the semester after the theme had already been
discussed (final beliefs);
- Submitted to content analysis, thus inscribing
this study in a qualitative research methodology
paradigm.
Results of the analysis of initial beliefs were
crossed with the results concerning final beliefs.

8. Instrument Categories
Questionnaire
1. Initial beliefs
1.1 Knowledge related with global education
1.2 Skills related with global education
1.3 Attitudes/values related with global education
Written essay
2. Final beliefs
2.1 Knowledge related with global education
2.2 Skills related with global education
2.3 Attitudes/values related with global education
Cross analysis
3. Initial beliefs vs final beliefs
3.1 Knowledge related with global education
3.2 Skills related with global education
3.3 Attitudes/values related with global education
(cf. Oxfam, 2015)
Categories used in the analysis

9. Results - knowledge
• Initial beliefs
Mainly Interdependence and globalization and
Identity and cultural diversity
• Final beliefs
Interdependence and globalization and Identity
and cultural diversity were more or less at the
same level as other types of knowledge (Social
justice and human rights, Peace building and
conflict resolution and Sustainable development).

10. Results - skills
• Initial beliefs
Mainly Communication (related to language
teaching), Collaboration (relating to the
teaching/learning methodology in the course) and
Reflection and Problem solving (related with social
needs).
• Final beliefs
All skills were more or less valued at the same
level.

11. Results – attitudes and values
• Initial beliefs
Mainly Social responsibility and Respect for
diversity and human rights.
• Final beliefs
Mainly Respect for diversity and human rights and
Social responsibility combined with Commitment
with social justice and equity.

12. Conclusions
• The students who took part in this study seem to
share a very generic understanding of Global
Education. The situation somewhat changed after
the topic had been discussed within the course
and associated to the teaching and learning of
the mother tongue.
• This was true for knowledge, skills and
attitudes/values.
• Consequently, this study leads to the conclusion
that the adoption of a perspective focused on
Global Education within teacher training entails
positive evolution.

13. References
European Commission. (2018). Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Key
Competences for Lifelong Learning. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2018/EN/COM-2018-24-F1-EN-MAIN-
PART-1.PDF
Gomes, C. S., Brocardo, J. L., Pedroso, J. V., et al. (2017). Perfil dos alunos para o século XXI
[Students profile for the 21st century]. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação.
Goodwin, A. L. (2010). Globalization and the preparation of quality teachers: rethinking
knowledge domains for teaching. Teaching Education, 21(1), 19-32.
Holden, C. & Hicks, D. (2007). Making global connections: the knowledge, understanding
and motivation of trainee teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 13-23, DOI:
10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.03
Horsley, M. & Bauer, K. A. (2010). Preparing early childhood educators for global
education: the implications of prior learning. European Journal of Teacher Education,
33(1), 421-436, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2010.509427
Oxfam (2015). Global Citizenship in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers. Oxford: Oxfam
GB. Retrieved from
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/global-citizenship/global-citizenship-guides
Sá, C. M. (2018). Projetos em Educação em Português e desenvolvimento de
competências-chave para a sociedade do séc. XXI. Investigar em Educação, 8(2) [no prelo].